CMS developing template to assist in medical documentation for PMD project

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last week that it is developing an electronic clinical template to assist physicians when documenting the power mobility device face-to-face encounter for Medicare, the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) reported.

AAHomecare and its Complex Rehab and Mobility Council have been advocating for the development of such a template to improve physician documentation for power mobility devices and simplify the billing process for providers.

This issue surfaced in November 2011 when CMS announced a prepayment review and prior authorization demonstration for power mobility devices in seven states. At the time, the demonstration project did not include a physician template. That was among many reasons that the HME industry opposed the project, which was halted and then relaunched with significant changes.

“The association considers its work on this issue with CMS of paramount importance, not only because of the impact this demonstration will have on the power mobility benefit but because CMS intends to apply a prior authorization program to other product categories in the HME benefit,’’ AAHomecare reported. “To date, the association has been successful in convincing CMS to eliminate the prepayment review portion of the demonstration and persuade CMS to allow the use of a clinical template approach to improving physician documentation of medical necessity. We have also been advocating for simplifying the coverage policy and create more clear educational material for both physicians and power mobility providers.”

A draft template can be viewed on the CMS website.